I've been busy

I've been busy lately (big surprise) and have lots to share...thinking I'll break it down in to more than one post so that I don't appear to go on and on!! LOL!! At least then I won't feel like I'm babbling.

Here is a couple of pictures of a birthday card I did for a friend and coworker. The only reason it's "blog worthy" is that it's my very first gate fold card and I think the Michael Strong stamps on it seem to put the finishing touch on it.

This friend has had a very tough year and I thought an extra special card was in order for her. I hope she likes it!!

Busy day

Yesterday was a busy day for me creatively! I finished two 8.5x11 layouts (I do these and put them on a clip board to display them. I print the pictures as wallet size prints and then can fit two or three on a page. They are just quick little pages of pictures that I want to be able to look at for awhile, before they are put away in an album.

The first layout is my husband sporting a famous passenger while he was riding the scooter. A co-worker of his strapped Mr SquarePants to the back of the scooter while they were working and my husband road the silly thing around like that all day!!

The second layout is for my friend Lisa. Her son's first grade put on a circus and he was the "world's strongest clown!" He was adorable!! I took a lot of pictures that day, but these were my favorites. The page is on a clip board ready for her to take home the next time she comes over!

Looking at the Big Cats

Today was Hailey's 12th birthday, so we took her to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center
Point IN. It was an amazing experience and sad at the same time. I have a million pictures...okay, almost 100 pictures of all the cats. Some aren't the greatest as all of the photos were taken through chain link fence.

Please check out their website. They need all the help they can get. It costs a lot of money to run the Rescue Center. I mean, can you imagine what it costs to feed a 600 pound tiger?!!

Being creative!!

Last night after I made brats on the grill, I looked at the empty beer cans left over from par-boiling the brats and had an ah-ha moment. I remembered an episode on the Scrapbook Lounge where I watched Michael Strong use an aluminum can as a piece of metal to use as embellishments. So I had my husband cut the top and bottom off the cans and there you have some soft aluminum to emboss.

So I took the "sheets" of metal and ran them through my Cuttlebug. The "LOVE" card was run through in a full sized Cuttlebug embossing folder and then colored with Alcohol inks. I use a Heidi Swapp stamp with chalk in. (I'll be honest...I haven't done the inside of the card yet LOL.) This will end up being my mom and stepdad's wedding anniversary card.

This card I made for my husband's ex-wife's birthday. (Yes I know that sounds odd....it's a long story, we all knew each other years before...) Anyway, I took three pieces of the "metal" and first cut the stamps shape with the Cuttlebug and the stamp die. Then I put each individual piece into a small Cuttlebug embossing folder. I started out to just play with this whole embossing metal thing and really liked how they turned out...and this is how I put it together :)

I work on a card project or a scrapbook project nearly everyday. Some days it's because I have a deadline, and some days it's because I have a creative urge. Last night the mojo (urge) was strong and I came up with both of the cards. I guess sometimes the creative juices just flow more fluidly than others:)

Now back to finishing the anniversary card and then on to making Hailey's scrapbook from her vacation in Vermont. It's my birthday present to her. So off I go!! See you soon!!

Go get inky!!
LeighAnn

a couple of happy purchases

Ahhh, the little things in life!! I finally found my little pump bottles. Just $.97 at WalMart and perfect for mixing tube watercolors to use to spray on paper for a color wash. I can't wait to try it!! Jamie bought me tube watercolors forever ago and I use them, but think I'll use them even more now!

The can of pink spray paint...well, every girl needs lots of pink in her life!! I got the idea from The Pink Stamper www.mypinkstamper.com when she and her best friend spray painted their ATG guns and Robyn did her Cricut spatula. Can't wait to do it myself!!

I will be putting up pictures of my water color creations and my newly painted tools soon!! Too much fun!!

Last Hailey share today!

Here's a card she made for her Aunt Jane. She used the Cricut Paperdoll cartridge to make the person (she's supposed to look like Jane) the Funky Cricut Lite cartridge for the font. She's making a birthday card for her mom right now!!

A must share

Have to share this story. This is a card my daughter Hailey (12) made this card for my son Bodhi. I think I said before that he's in WA visiting his dad. I think it's so sweet that she wants to send him stuff too.

On this card she used the Tracerkin stencils (which I have all of and you can't buy anymore!!) I still use them, though the Cricut paper doll cartridges have kind of taken over LOL!!

I don't help Hailey with color choices or anything...I let her have free run of my scraps and most of my tools and supplies. She comes up with some pretty amazing stuff without any help at all. I'll post more of her stuff as time goes on. Actually she's sitting at the table in my living room right now finding stuff to make her mom's birthday card!!